CMT Music Awards: Advertisers Rock, "American Idol" Rolls

It wasnamp8217t the first time but the CMTs last night seemed to spotlight an Idol personality at every turnamp160 Keith Urban famous for much more than serving as a judge for four years on American Idol had his best night ever at the CMTs taking home four awardsamp160including one for Collaborative Video of the Year with one of the most famous Idol winners of all Season 4 stunner Carrie Underwood who often leaves these and other music awards shows with an armload of fresh trophiesamp160She now has an impressive 17 CMTsamp160 Underwood and Urban pictured at top gave the most memorable performance in a 2 amp189hour show chock full of same with a powerfulamp160rendition of their hit amp8220The Fighteramp8221 the video of which earned them the Collaborative Video awardMeantime and more surprising to everyone including the winner herself Idol Season 12 runnerup Lauren Alaina was honored with the award for Breakthrough Video of the Year for amp8220Road Less Travelledamp8221amp160 Alaina later performed the song on the Firestone Stage more about that belowAlso the always delightful Kellie Pickler a muchloved veteran of Idol Season 5 and star of the upcoming CMT reality series I Love Kellie Pickler was also present at the Music City Center arena amp160And she was featured in the funny video that opened the show in which the lavish home occupied by Deacon Claybourne and until a few months ago his late wife Rayna Jaymes in the CMT drama series Nashville had been listed on AirCMT and was suddenly bursting with country stars including Luke Bryan Thomas Rhett Florida Georgia Line Little Big Town and Billy Ray Cyrus as well as Pickler herself much to Deaconamp8217s dismayThe video was on point as the perfect opener for the show because the host was Charles Esten pictured above who plays Deacon on Nashville which just began the second half of its fifth season its first on CMT after a fouryear run on ABC and needs a substantial promotional push after the departure of star Connie Britton from the cast and the oncanvas demise of the beloved Raynaamp160 Esten is a strong actor and an even stronger singer and while he is obviously new to hosting he did the best anyone could do with the silly material he often was givenamp160 With practice and better writing I can see him perfecting this new aspect of his burgeoning careerCMTamp8217s presentation of its annual Music Awards remains the most entertaining telecast of its kind even at a time in popular culture when it seems as though there are more award shows than there are artists to be honoredamp160 Maybe thatamp8217s because unlike every other awards show especially those revolving around music the CMTs consistently manage to be simultaneously epic in terms of talent and intimate in terms of how theyamp160presentamp160that talent in the arena and especially outside in locations throughout Music City itselfamp160 In other words no other awards show so completely and lovingly embraces the city in which it takes place though many of them tryRemote performances last night included Florida Georgia Line and The Chainsmokers pictured above at the formeramp8217s new Nashville club FGL House and Kelsea Ballerini on the Hersheyamp8217s Outdoor Stage a colorful promotional platform for Hersheyamp8217s Cookie Layer Crunch candies amp160Earlier in the telecast rising star Devin Dawson appeared at the Pepsi Firehouse to kick off home viewer voting for the Social Superstar of the Year award amp160That award like many others ultimately went to Keith Urbanamp160 It was a great night also for Urbanamp8217s wife Nicole Kidman seated in the audience throughout next to Carrie Underwood and cheering her man on from one award to the nextFor as long as I can remember the CMT Music Awards have been an excellent platform for brand integration and advertiser messaging The branded remote locations mentioned above continued to demonstrate thatamp160 Advertiser integration isnamp8217t unusual in award shows but the CMT Music Awards presentation seems to showcase it much better than mostamp160 It may be that aforementioned balance of the epic and the intimate or the way the ad community embraces Nashville itself during the show or both amp160Regardless it worksAs always my favorite of all was the branded stage on which upandcoming country stars briefly perform within the arena before commercial breaksamp160 For many years it was the Nationwide Stageamp160 Last year Firestone took it overamp160 In a perfect storm of promotion presentation and performance Idol alumna Lauren Alaina performed amp8220Road Less Traveledamp8221 on the Firestone Stageamp160shortly after the video for it was honored as noted aboveamp160 I assume Firestone will be back next year and also that Alaina will move to the main stageamp160 Remember the allnew American Idol begins next March on ABC so all things Idol past and present will be top of mind when the 2018 CMT Music Awards roll aroundAnd speaking of tieins between country artists and television Blake Shelton of NBCamp8217s The Voice was in fine form with his rendition of amp8220Every Time I Hear That Songamp8221 while his exwife Miranda Lambert pictured above nailed amp8220Pink Sunglassesamp8221amp160 Lambert started her career as a competitor on the late USANBC reality competition series Nashville StarCome on TV amp8230 Idol is returning bring Star back tooClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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CMT Music Awards: Advertisers Rock, "American Idol" Rolls

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Ed Martin

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CMT Music Awards: Advertisers Rock, "American Idol" Rolls

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